One direct effect of the army troops’ attack on the bonus marchers was that

Yesterday I covered the events leading up to the Bonus Army’s march on D.C. The Bonus Army, camped in a Hooverville on the Anacostia Flats, held daily parades to bring attention to their cause. On June 17th, the United States Senate voted against the Wright Patman Bonus Bill, which had already been passed by the House and would have given the veterans their bonuses early, and as a result, the Bonus Army massed at the United States Capitol.

The Bonus Army, 43,000 strong, had descended on the nation’s capitol and upset the natural order of things. This army, led by former Army Sergeant Walter W. Waters, had worn out its welcome, and on July 28, 1932, the U.S. Attorney General ordered the veterans to be removed from government property. When police arrived to disperse the veterans, two policemen were cornered and they drew their weapons, shooting two veterans. These veterans, William Hushka and Eric Carlson, both died from their wounds. When word of the shooting made it to President Hoover, he ordered the United States Army to remove the Bonus Army from their Hooverville camp.

Soldiers, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, armed with bayonet-fixed rifles, adamsite gas, and tanks, arrived by mid-afternoon. As the soldiers and tanks headed to the Bonus Army’s camp, those watching–including the Bonus Army–believed that the troops were there to lend support. They were in for quite a surprise when Major George S. Patton ordered a cavalry charge.

Once the arsenic-laced vomiting agent was blasted on the veterans and their families, they quickly evacuated their make-shift community. At this point, President Hoover ordered the assault to stop. General MacArthur did not think it best for America’s future to stop; therefore, MacArthur commanded that the United States Army continue to push back the Bonus Army and destroy their camp.

General Douglas MacArthur believed that:

the movement was actually far deeper and more dangerous than an effort to secure funds from a nearly depleted federal treasury.

Over 1,000 were injured, and two more died; one of the deceased was 12-week-old Bernard Myers.

At the end of the night, General MacArthur held a press conference so that he could justify his actions.

Had the President not acted today, had he permitted this thing to go on for twenty-four hours more, he would have been faced with a grave situation which would have caused a real battle.

He was truly under the belief that the Bonus Army was communist. He stated that:

Had he [Hoover] let it go on another week, I believe the institutions of our Government would have been severely threatened.

The country did not look fondly on President Hoover’s decision to use the United States Army to attack fellow Americans. As a result of this, Hoover lost the 1932 Presidential Election by a landslide. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States of America. The problem for the Bonus Army is that he also opposed the veteran’s demands; however, he was more respectful of those that had fought for America and her safety.

When the Bonus Army held a second rally in May of 1933, President Roosevelt provided them with a campsite and three meals a day. President Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, played a large role in providing these veterans with some sort of help, even if it wasn’t what they asked for. Eleanor Roosevelt promised positions to those in the Bonus Army into the newly created Civilian Conservation Corps. This would provide these men jobs, in a time where jobs were scare. This would not give them the instant cash that they desired from their bonuses.

It would take almost three more years, but on January 27, 1936, the Adjusted Compensation Payment Act was passed, which allowed the bonuses to be immediately paid out.

THE PRESIDENT said:

"On the 28th of July last I announced that I had directed the Department of Justice to exhaustively investigate and report in full upon the incidents of the so-called bonus riots of that day in Washington and to present the facts, through sworn witnesses, to the grand jury. I further stated that I should make the Attorney General's report public when received by me.

"The investigation has been completed. In giving out the report which shows the character of many of the persons assembled, the incidents and character of the instigators of the this, I wish to state emphatically that the extraordinary proportion of criminal, Communist, and nonveteran elements amongst the marchers as shown by this report, should not be taken to reflect upon the many thousands of honest, law-abiding men who came to Washington with full right of presentation of their views to the Congress. This better element and their leaders acted at all times to restrain crime and violence, but after the adjournment of Congress a large portion of them returned to their homes and gradually these better elements lost control. This report should correct the many misstatements of fact as to this incident with which the country has been flooded ."

Herbert Hoover, Statement on the Justice Department Investigation of the Bonus Army. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207472

On July 28, 1932 the U.S. government attacked World War I veterans with tanks, bayonets, and tear gas, under the leadership of textbook heroes Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The WWI vets were part of a Bonus Army who came to Washington, D.C. to make a demand for their promised wartime bonuses.

To evict the Bonus Army marchers, troops donned gas masks, fixed bayonets, and, with sabers drawn, moved down Pennsylvania Ave. Source: National Archives

As Mickey Z. explains in the article below,

While they may have fought in Europe as a segregated army, the Bonus Army did not invite Jim Crow to this battle. Arriving from all over the country, alone or with wives and children, both Black and white veterans of huddled together, mostly across the Potomac River from the Capitol, in what were called ‘Hoovervilles,’ in honor of the president who adamantly refused to hear their pleas.

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By Mickey Z.

“In the sad aftermath that always follows a great war, there is nothing sadder than the surprise of the returned soldiers when they discover that they are regarded generally as public nuisances. And not too honest.” — H.L. Mencken

Long before the cries of “support the troops” became commonplace during every brutal U.S. military intervention, the powers-that-be made it clear how much they intended to follow their own counsel.

From Shays Rebellion in 1787 to the quarter-million homeless vets today, generation after generation of U.S. military personnel has suffered a lack of support from their government. The American soldiers who fought in World War I were no exception. In 1924, WWI vets were voted “Adjusted Compensation” by Congress: $1.25 for each day served overseas, $1.00 for each day served in the States. To the “doughboys,” it was seen as a bonus.

One of the enlisted men stuck in such a predicament was Joe T. Angelo of Camden, New Jersey. In 1918, Private Angelo saved the life of a certain Major George S. Patton on a battlefield in France (Angelo was Patton’s orderly). For his efforts, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

In the spring and summer of 1932, disgruntled, broke, and unemployed veterans like Angelo got the idea to demand payment on the future worth of the aforementioned certificates. Anywhere from 17,000 to 25,000 former doughboys formed a Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF), otherwise known as the “Bonus Army,” and — bonus certificates in hand — they marched on Washington to picket Congress and President Herbert Hoover.

While they may have fought in Europe as a segregated army, the men of the BEF did not invite Jim Crow to this battle. Arriving from all over the country, alone or with wives and children, both Black and white veterans of huddled together, mostly across the Potomac River from the Capitol, in what were called “Hoovervilles,” in honor of the president who adamantly refused to hear their pleas.

The House of Representatives passed the Patman Bill for veterans’ relief on June 15, 1932, but the bill met defeat in the Senate just two days later. More vets swarmed into the nation’s capital. Shacks, tents, and lean-tos continued to spring up everywhere, and the government and newspapers decided to play the communist trump card for the umpteenth time. Despite the fact that the BEF was made up of 95 percent veterans, the entire group were labeled “Red agitators” — tantamount to declaring open season on an oppressed group of U.S. citizens. Right on cue, Hoover called out the troops. . . led by three soon-to-be textbook heroes.

Bonus marchers face police and army, 1932. Source: National Archives

The commander of the operation was Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur, who branded the BEF traitors bent on overthrowing the government. . . declaring, “Pacifism and its bedfellow communism are all around us.” MacArthur’s young aide was none other than Dwight D. Eisenhower, while Patton led the Third Cavalry — which spearheaded the eventual eviction of the Bonus Army. Patton shared MacArthur’s hatred of “reds” and lectured his troops on how to deal with the BEF: “If you must fire do a good job — a few casualties become martyrs, a large number an object lesson. . . . When a mob starts to move keep it on the run. . . . Use a bayonet to encourage its retreat. If they are running, a few good wounds in the buttocks will encourage them. If they resist, they must be killed.”

The three military icons got their chance on July 28, 1932 when a scuffle by the BEF and D.C. police resulted in two fatally wounded veterans. The U.S. Army assault integrated four troops of cavalry, four companies of infantry, a machine gun squadron, and six tanks. When asked by BEF leader Walter Waters if the Hoovervilles campers would be “given the opportunity to form in columns, salvage their belongings, and retreat in an orderly fashion,” MacArthur replied: “Yes, my friend, of course.” But, after marching up Pennsylvania Avenue, MacArthur’s soldiers lobbed tear gas and brandished bayonets as they set fire to some of the tents. In a flash, the whole BEF encampment was ablaze.

“Disregarding orders — a common thread running through his career — MacArthur decided to finish the job by destroying the Bonus Army entirely,” historian Kenneth C. Davis writes. “After nightfall, the tanks and cavalry leveled the jumbled camps of tents and packing-crate shacks. It was put to the torch.”

Two veterans lost their lives in the assault and an eleven-week-old baby died from what was believed to be gas-related illness. In addition, an eight-year-old boy was partially blinded by gas, two police had their skulls fractured, and a thousand veterans suffered gas-related injuries.

In the smoldering aftermath, a dazed, rail thin Joe Angelo approached his old boss but was harshly rebuked. “I do not know this man,” Major Patton growled. “Take him away and under no circumstances permit him to return.”

The next day, the New York Times ran an article under the headline: “A Calvary Major Evicts Veteran Who Saved His Life in Battle.”

After this impressive military success, the members of the BEF were forced to leave Washington and many of them joined the other two million or so Americans who lived their lives on the road during the Great Depression.

“Some states, like California,” Davis notes, “posted guards to turn back the poor.”

Less than ten years later, MacArthur, Patton, and Eisenhower would be earning a place in history books by sending many of those same disenfranchised poor to grisly deaths on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a candidate for president in 1932. It is said that the day after the BEF eviction, he told an aide there was no longer any need for him to campaign against Herbert Hoover. He may have been right. . . but his subsequent election did little to help WWI veterans. FDR not only refused to pay the bonuses; he also reappointed MacArthur as Army Chief of Staff.

Roosevelt did throw some veterans a New Deal bone when bonus seekers were given the opportunity to work in “Veterans Rehabilitation Camps” like those in the Florida Keys. There they met with an ignominious end on Labor Day 1935 when “a hurricane unlike any ever recorded in the United States” struck.

“Wind gusts estimated at two hundred miles an hour slammed into the work camps in Florida’s upper Keys, turning granules of sand into tiny missiles that blasted flesh from human faces,” write Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen in Bonus Army: An American Epic. “The storm brought death to at least 259 veterans. The final indignity was mass cremation.”

Despite such treatment, the legacy of the Bonus Army lives on not only in the passing of the G.I. Bill in 1944,  but in every sit-down strike, every march, and every demonstration for economic justice. As the Washington Evening Star wrote during the Bonus Army’s stay in D.C., “These men wrote a new chapter on patriotism of which their countrymen could be proud.”

Reprinted with permission of the author from 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know: Reclaiming American Patriotism (Disinformation Books) by Mickey Z.

See the PBS documentary, “The March of the Bonus Army” and find more related resources below.